Chorizo Mac and Cheese Recipe

We used El Mexicano brand chorizo for this recipe, as it is very soft, almost like a pâté. It integrates with the sauce better than other styles of Mexican chorizo.

This recipe makes a small casserole, you can easily double the ingredients for a large casserole.

Ingredients

2 cups elbow macaroni

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon cornstarch

4 ounces shredded cheddar cheese (about 1 cup)

4 ounces shredded pepper jack cheese (about 1 cup)

6 ounces Mexican chorizo

1/2 cup minced red onion

2 Tbsp flour

2 teaspoons lime juice

2 Tbsp breadcrumbs

1 Tbsp butter

Method

1 Mix the cornstarch with the 2 cheeses in a bowl and set aside. The cornstarch will help prevent the cheese sauce from getting too stringy.

2 Heat the milk: Put the milk into a small saucepan and heat until steamy. Keep warm while you are preparing the recipe, do not let boil.

3 Cook the macaroni pasta: Put 2 quarts of water, salted with 1 Tbsp salt, into a large pot and heat to a boil. Once the water is at a full boil, add the macaroni to the pot. Return to a boil, and cook, uncovered, for about 2 minutes less than the macaroni package specifies, so that it is al dente, cooked, but still firm to the bite.

4 Cook the chorizo and onion: While the water is heating and the macaroni cooking, prepare the chorizo cheese sauce.

Remove chorizo from its casing and put into a medium thick-bottomed saucepan on medium high heat. When the chorizo begins to sizzle, reduce the heat to medium. Cook the chorizo, stirring often, for 2 minutes.

Add the minced red onion and cook the mixture until the onions soften, about 3-4 minutes.

5 Drain macaroni, preheat oven: When the macaroni is cooked, but still a bit firm, drain it and set aside. Preheat oven to 375°.

6 Make the chorizo cheese sauce: Add the flour to the pot with the chorizo and mix well. Everything will clump up. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom of the pot, for 2 minutes.

Add the hot milk a tablespoon at a time, stirring constantly. When all the milk has been added, heat the mixture to a gentle simmer and cook for 2 minutes.

Mix the grated cheese into the chorizo milk sauce.

7 Add the cooked macaroni to the chorizo cheese sauce. Stir in the lime juice.

8 Bake: Pour the macaroni and cheese into a small casserole dish. Make sure the top is level. Dust the top with the breadcrumbs, then dot with the butter. Bake until the breadcrumbs are golden, about 20 to 25 minutes.

If you want, serve with chopped avocados, crema fresca, and chopped fresh cilantro.

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Elise Bauer is the founder of Simply Recipes. Elise launched Simply Recipes in 2003 as a way to keep track of her family's recipes, and along the way grew it into one of the most popular cooking websites in the world. Elise is dedicated to helping home cooks be successful in the kitchen. Elise is a graduate of Stanford University, and lives in Sacramento, California.

59 Comments / Reviews

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Victoria G

Yum!! Turned out so good and my boyfriend said it was a much better version of hamburger helper. I made this with Morning Star Veggie Chorizo (2/3-1/2 bag). After cooking finely diced Bell Peppers and White Onion (1/2 C each) (peppers first for a minute or 2)(season GSP, smoked Paprika, Chili powder and little cumin) I set them aside and cooked the frozen Veggie Chorizo in same pot (per directions on bag). Added 1/4-1/3 C each hot Black Beans and hot frozen Corn (microwave). Cook 1 min. Added cooked onion and peppers back to pot. Cook 1 min. Continue. I used a smidge more milk. I used Velveeta and some shredded Colby jack for lack of Colby jack. Luckily I had pepper jack. I used a 2 day old corn bread muffin, some panko, smoked paprika, salt, garlic and cayenne for the topping part. It makes enough for 4-5, or 2 and left overs! I wanted to post a picture with my comment but couldn’t paste or insert..I might use less veggie chorizo next time so I get a tad more cheese flavor. I would definitely add fresh tomato and avocado on top next time too. :)

Great recipe! My family loved this flavor! It does need some adjusting to make more of Mac n Cheese texture and not like a casserole. I increased milk and cheese and I also altered the pepper jack- did 1/2 pepper jack and 1/2 jalapeño jack – it was the perfect blend to increase the spicy heat of the chorizo. I saw the Doritos crushed topping suggestion and did that. Amazing! I added a thin layer of shredded cheddar before adding the Dorito topping and dotted with butter. My family wants this to be my go-to dish for parties now!

Hi Meg, if your mac n cheese is lackluster, my guess is that you are not using the correct type of chorizo. Mexican chorizo is really spicy. There is no need to add any additional spices or cayenne if you are starting with a spicy chorizo. Also we are using pepperjack cheese, which is also spicy.

This was delicious the first time. But the second time I wanted to see if I could improve it. Added a can or Ro Tel tom and green chiles. Increased the milk by 50%. (We make a double batch. 2 teenage boys in the house.) With the lime juice did half of what I should have and the some orange juice. (Ran outta lime juice) And instead of bread crumbs I crushed up Doritos. (Outta bread crumbs) And some ground red pepper. It was awesome.

We had this earlier in the week. The flavor was great, but the family agreed that it could have been saucier. The next time I will double the milk and cheese. Do you think I would need to add any extra fat and flour to thicken up that large of an increase in liquid for the sauce?

Hi, Ron! Emma here, managing editor for Simply Recipes. So glad you liked the recipe! If you want to double the amount of sauce, I’d also double the amount of flour added to the chorizo mixture and add another tablespoon of oil. Hope that helps!

I use chorizo in many dishes. Dishes I use it in usually have ground beef a its main ingredient. Three particular dishes are home style
tacos/burittos, spaghetti, and Frito pie /nachos. I use it in
conjunction not in lure of. Provides something extra to each of the three dishes. Spaghetti coloring, nachos/frito pies sensation and
tacos/burittos a spicy flavor. Do normal preperation, mix and season to taste and you have different dishes that’s sure to satisfy even the
pickiest eaters.

I have used cooked & crumbled chorizo in quesadillas, w/a pepper jack
cheese. A stuffing for chile rellenos. I like mixed with fried potatoes for breakfast. Mixed in with refried beans. Put on a pizza.
I can’t wait to try in Mac & Cheese – sounds delicious.

My favorite use of chorizo is in “Mexican eggs Benedict”. It’s basically an English muffin topped with a chorizo patty, tomato, and poached egg with cilantro hollandaise sauce. Also you can make home fries from the same pan that you cooked the chorizo in and it will infuse the potatoes.

I mostly use chorizo for nachos and I make a great chip dip with it using velvetta cheese and chorizo in a crock pot, but I am usually to busy to make my own Chorizo, but Sunset Farm Foods has a great chorizo chub.I can sometimes find it in stores, but usually I have to order from their website , http://www.sunsetfarmfoods.com, but it is soo worth it.

I made this with soy chorizo and based on Jenny R’s comment above added 1.5 cups of milk. I think the extra milk was a good idea, but my result wasn’t dry at all. However, I didn’t mix in any corn starch with the cheese (didn’t have any) and I cooked the onions briefly in a little olive oil before adding the soyrizo as soy meat doesn’t add oil to the pan the way animal meat does. It’s quite nice – thanks!

Thought I’d give a little update–made this the other day with soy chorizo and despite adding an extra 1/2 cup of milk, it still ended up a bit dry. I’m guessing its because the soy chorizo is drier and a bit less greasy than the real deal?? Regardless, the flavor was still fantastic! Next time I make it with soy I will up the milk to 2 cups :)

I got my chorizo at my local health food store -had never had it before. Mine was a bit firm and I didn’t see how it’d become soft enough to smash up in a skillet, so I put it in a food processor with a small amount of water and voila! I had a pate consistency. :). My Mac n cheese is baking right now for dinner!

In Mexico they take the chorizo cook then it cover with green peppers and onion grilled but still crisp.. cover it with like a Monterrey Jack cheese and put under broiler.. serve with fresh flour tortillas or fresh made corn chips.. Out of this world! That is the soft Mexican style.. not the Spanish chorizo.

Great,great,great! No breadcrumbs, Ok I did have time and all the bread on hand but I opted for Doritos. I also had no pepper jack on hand but I did have a nice jalapeno (on a stick?) which I added to the onions. More lime juice on the side and a scoop of sour cream. Will add this to my Mac and cheese file.